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Ambrose Túrin
Ambrose Túrin (The Postman, Alister Grey) ''is a Drow prince whose current residence is unknown. He is an active member of the adventuring party Fates Claws and is a renowned hero of the Hammertree Emperor under the pseudonym ''The Postman. ''He is known for his odd mixture of flamboyance and furtiveness and possesses great skills in the clandestine arts. As well as stealth, Ambrose is a master of interplaner manipulation. Backstory Ambrose's backstory is one of some temporal debate, however in every account, he began life in the Drow metroplous Nenthralindil. His early years were spent learning basic combat as well as the customary alter duties bestowed upon younger princes. Despite displaying an aptitude for violence and martial activities, he was sent to the Mages Guild of Nenthralindil. It was there, by his matrons orders, he began to investigate the neglected art of interplaner travel. During this several year period, Ambrose was rather discontent, feeling betrayed by his family for turning away his multiple requests to continue combat training. The focused reverence of the Drow soon took a dull pallor to Ambrose, as elaborated upon in his journal. "S''hould Lolth herself ascend, these fools would be too rapt in worship to notice. I'm beginning to see how cyclic this all is. There's no end to the houses, and no point in climbing the caste other than favor. I think I'll find my own damn favor..." In several forbidden tomes stolen from the Mage archives, Ambrose read of the surface. Much of Drow culture thinks little of the world beyond the underdark, seldom leaving for reasons other than the occasional raid against their archaic woodelf enemies. Ambrose commented in an entry, '' "These tomes are fabulous reading material... -a note, steal more from that cabinet!- Included in all this ridiculous rhetoric about woodelves, they speak of an infinitely tall cavern and stalagmites as large as Nenthralindil several times over. In my studies of the planes, I have known of other such places, but none on my own plane, I must look into this further."'' As his studies continued, Ambrose began stealing components to build an aperture capable of tearing open a demiplane connected to the surface, a method used by raiding parties thousands of years prior. Upon the device's completion a portal was successfully rendered. With little forethought, Ambrose strode through, into a demiplane where he encountered a Denizen which had allegedly been waiting for the Drow. The Denizen, now suspected to be the Astral demon of chaos, Ulban, planted a small part of his soul into the Drow, possessing his body and leading him back to Nenthralindil under his control. Ulban killed several of Ambrose's sisters and a patron while they slept, before temporarily releasing his astral possession. Ambrose regained controll, both amused and terrified. In a final desperate escape he returned to his portal and pushed forward through the demiplane, arriving on the surface. For three tendays Ambrose wandered in a state of wonder through the western forests of Hammertree, moving tentatively along game trails and keeping a wary distance from the roaming wolf packs which seemed to pay little heed to the Drow. Inevitably he stumbled into a road which seemed well traveled. He followed this road east, eventually encountering a halfling who told him of the great city of Steelhaven. Ambrose, with the presence of Ulban still hidden in his consciousness, joined the halfling in his journey to the distant city. Ulban forced Ambrose's hand halfway through the sojourn, slaying the halfling and running the Drow into the labyrinthine eastern mountains. For several days Ambrose wandered through the hills, searching for a road which might take him to Steelhaven. In a journel entry, he stated ''"Though I am lost in body and spirit, I feel a kind of solace with myself" '' Ambrose preferred to travel by dark, as his eyes had yet to fully grow accustomed to the sun. It was in the dead of night that the lost Drow encountered an odd shrine composed of monoliths, spiraling in an intricate pattern to create a strange, archaic navigation device. In the center of this shrine sat a few scattered offerings and a pool of water. The pool reflected the stars, and as Ambrose approached, he began to feel a deep murmured voice reverberating around him, the cosmos in the pool below beckoned, and in a blissful trancelike state, he submerged himself in the portal, floating into a celestial void without direction. From the folds of the stars around him entered a figure wrapped in a cloak of what appeared to be a nebula. The figure had pale moonlike skin and fair features framed by waving silver hair, sextants and compasses of every kind hung from the figures neck and a warmth seemed to radiate from him. The figure spoke in a fluid voice, telling Ambrose that in his journeys, the Drow had discovered his role in fate, or rather, his role outside of it. ''"He spoke to me, telling of an empirical transcendence which I had reached at last. A journey I have been unwittingly traveling my entire life." '' The figure revealed himself to be Celestian, god of travel, physical/intellectual wandering and navigation. He touched Ambrose's forehead, and the stars began to rush outwards, as he was swept into the distance, Celestian left the Drow with a forboding remark, "There will be no place in the coming storm for an anchored ship" Following this vision, Ambrose found himself once again before the pool, now acutely aware of Steelhaven's location.